1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of this invention is directed to dental equipment and more particularly to a mouth block that is to be used by dentists and dental specialists to prop open the patient's mouth to prevent chewing action during the time that the patient is recovering from a local anesthetic.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dentists and dental specialists commonly inject local anesthetic into the gum area when performing dental procedures. This local anesthetic will numb a significant area of the cheek and the tongue as well as the surrounding tissue. After the dentist or dental specialist has completed the procedure on the patient, it is desirable to not have the patient perform any chewing action. The dentist and dental specialist would prefer the chewing action be terminated for a period of time until the anesthetic wears off. This recovery time normally is one to two hours in duration. If the patient does perform a chewing action, the patient can frequently injure himself or herself in biting the tongue or the cheek.
In the past, in order to prevent this chewing action it has been common for dentists and dental specialists to take cotton squares or rolls and insert it within the patient's mouth. The patient is to keep the cotton squares or roll between their teeth for a desired period of time at which point the patient will remove it and discard such. This means that after the patient has left the dentist or dental specialist's office and is out in public, the appearance of the cotton in one's mouth is not exceedingly attractive. Additionally, the cotton becomes impregnated with saliva and frequently becomes crushed to the point to where the patient can almost perform a chewing action even with the cotton in place.
It would be desirable to design some type of device that was specifically intended to hold apart the teeth of the mandible from the teeth of the maxilla to prevent a patient from chewing where this device could be reasonably attractive and would not deteriorate in a period of a couple of hours during the time that it is required to be used.